No trees grow in Antarctica today, but the team speculated that Cadophora may be related to fungi that lived on the continent 200 million years ago, when forests and swamps dominated the landscape. Researchers took soil samples from areas where petrified wood is found in Antarctica’s Allan Hills and Mount Fleming in order to isolate fungi similar to those isolated from historic area sites. However, they have yet to complete a DNA analysis that would allow them to determine the relationship of currently found fungi in Antarctica to those observed in the fossil record.
Many of the Antarctic fungi are highly pigmented, which gives them UV protection and helps them absorb solar energy. (In fact, many conservationists mistook the fungi in the cabins for soot at first, said McDonald.) The majority are also cold-tolerant rather than cold-loving: cold-tolerant organisms are capable of growth at 0 degrees Celsius, but grow optimally above 15 degrees Celsius, while true psychrophiles grow best below 15 degrees Celsius.
“If we take these fungi and put them into the lab, under the best of conditions, they can degrade [wood] quite fast. They have the potential for rapid decay,” said Blanchette. They are only limited by the degree-days above zero Celsius.
https://medium.com/hhmi-science-media/fungi-live-large-at-the-poles-9b172f96b38c
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